Every headset style asks something of the body over a long shift. The S 131 Semi-Custom Headset was built to ask as little as possible.
Ten hours is a long time to wear a headset. Dispatchers do it every shift, and the body keeps track. An over-the-ear headset rests on the ear, and somewhere past the middle of a shift that resting spot turns into a pressure point. An over-the-head headset can catch and tangle hair, and for dispatchers prone to headaches, pressure in the wrong place can bring one on. The adjustments start: a headset nudged between calls, moved, settled, moved again.
None of these headsets is the wrong choice, everyone has their preferences. However each one is a trade, and the trade is paid by the person wearing it, a little at a time, across a shift and then across a career. The way to judge a headset isn't how it feels at the start of a shift. It's what it asks of the dispatcher by the end of one.
Custom molds solved comfort for the few who could get one
For years, the answer for dispatchers who needed something lighter was a custom ear mold. It is the lightest option on the market, and for many people it is genuinely comfortable. It has also never scaled to a whole floor.
Cost is the first reason. Many agencies find a custom setup cost-prohibitive. Time is the second. A mold starts with an ear impression and a wait of four weeks or more, depending on how fast the mold maker turns it around.
Fit is the third, and the least talked about. Some ears never get a comfortable mold, no matter how many impressions are taken. Even a mold that fits well can start to feel intrusive late in a long shift. A mold only fits one ear. Many dispatchers have just one, so when that ear has had enough, there is nothing to switch to.
The S 131 is built around what ten hours asks of the ear
The S 131 takes what works about a custom mold, a light piece in the ear and nothing resting on the head, and removes what kept it out of reach. It uses a small, lightweight universal ear tip with no pressure points. Nothing sits behind the ear and nothing crosses the hair.
Instead of an impression, every box includes a six-piece kit of ear tips in multiple sizes, so the fit accommodates a wide range of ears. The tips are soft for comfort and hypoallergenic for dispatchers with sensitivities. The kit includes tips for both ears, so a dispatcher can switch sides partway through a shift, something a single custom mold can't offer.
The ear tip also lets some environmental sound through. That matters on positions that work the radio: dispatchers there keep one ear open for transmissions, and the S 131 is built for exactly that. It uses the same mic boom as SHG's custom headset and drops into a center's existing communications setup. It was designed by dispatchers, for dispatchers, by a company whose roots are in medical hearing devices.
No impression, no four week wait, no splitting the bill
The S 131 ships from stock, within 48 business hours. There is no ear impression to schedule and no mold maker to wait on. It is priced between an entry-level headset and a full custom setup, so agencies can equip the dispatchers who need it without asking anyone to pay for part of their own headset. If a tip goes missing, replacement six-packs are sold separately.
It isn't for everyone. Dispatchers who don't like anything in the ear will be more comfortable in an over-the-head or over-the-ear headset, and those belong on the approved list too. For everyone else, the S 131 removes the reasons they were going without.